Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-04-27
Mr.. SMITH SPEAKS AGAIN.
The Reverend Gentleman Repeats
His Approval of "The Demo-
crafts, Course.

The Reverend Gentleman hePeaIs
His Approval of "The Demo-
crat,s', Course.
ED. DEMOCRAT: am DESTROYS OF as
sorting all means in my power toincrease
the circulation of THE DEMOCRAT in this
vicinity.
have the postoffice in my charge, and
if you will send me the prospectus ofyour
excellent paper, shall be glad to post 1T
and to secure you any subscribers or job
printing that 1 can. We have thor
oughly Mormon town, with less than a
score of straight Gentles among popu-
lation of over 1000 (D-not above hall
dozen families at most.
ANY really American paper, therefore,
stands poor show in such community,
but of all places this is missionary field
for such a cause as that you have the
honor of leading.
have never been in entire harmony
with the views and methods OF these who
heretofore assumed the functions OF lead
ership In the anti-Mormon crusade, IN
which | have been enlisted heart and soul
for five years and half. l have declined to
believe that there was not ga more ex-
cellent way" and l am inclined to give
THE DEMOCRAT the credit of at least pre-
pairing the minds of the people to recog-
nize the fact that such thing is possible
as the suppression of this anti-Mor-
mon and anti-Christian fungus upon
the body polite by speedy, radical
and yet legal methods. My honest
conviction is that special legislation
will never eradicate the evil any more
than the same kind of legislation, through
period Of many years, annihilated
slavery.
The Mormon Church, or State, or
whatever you NAV be pleased to term
this alien organization, must be held re-
SponSi6le for the evils that grO1U out of ats
Infamous creed, and until the masses are
90 treated these evils never can be
legislated out of existence by specific
enactment from each separate case.
l like your article in a late issue
as to the church being morally RESPONSE
BILE for ali the crimes that grow out of her
divine commands. Let the State a. e. the
GoUernment) hold the system and the peo-
pie responsible for the legitimate
individual fruits of that system,
and treat them as aliens until
they give credible evidence that they are
genuine friends of fostering and benefi-
cent government. No man or number of
men have any rights or prerogatives as
citizens of government against which
they harbor an unmitigated revenge, and
to whose statutes they submit only
through the most painful compulsion.
The laws they like, they obey-so do
all law defers But how few essential
laws of this nation they seem to approve,
and with what bravado and impunity
they violate all others The effect of i'm
prisonment upon those who do violate
the law has no more effect upon them
than the same penalty has upon the most
hardened of our criminals, and while we
cannot do less than rigidly enforce those
laws, we are not going to the end of our
duty as loyal citizens if we fail to impor-
tune the nation for sucn a general law as
Recognizing the Mormon Church as a
rebellious subject) will effect a willing or
unwilling yet absolute and unconditional
surrender to ''the powers that be" and
ought to be.
Anything less than this survey and
treatment falls below the demand, and
inasmuch fails of an effective and final
settlement of the issue between Mormons
and Americans. look, and long, for the
day when "Uncle Sam" will say with
emphasis, and yet with all due charity,
to this rebellious ward: "You have got
to quit your meanness, and you must do
1t quick" love men, but hate their
"cussedness," as they term it "out West. -
Respectfully yours,
J. A. LIVINGSTON SMITH.
PAYsoN, Utah, April %, 1887.